Start at Associations or Professional Societies and You’ll Find Names / Leads to Call: You Might Even Find Email Addresses and Phone Numbers!

Yep, simple rule and quick posting, but sometimes simple is best. 

Had a great time today making my way through a major industry association in order to names source.  Of course, I prefer to not only have a name, but also a company, a title, and, if the universe is in my court that day, solid contact information, preferably phone AND email.  Well, actually, preferably I’d like to find an attendee list to a conference (From Conference Attendee Lists to Tailored and Targeted Call Lists: Names Sourcing Strategies, Tips, & Tricks located at: http://www.thenamessourcer.com/2010/03/from-conference-attendee-lists-to.html  )  that has all of what was just mentioned, but that can’t always happen.  So, I’ll take the next best. 

Today was such a day. 

Hint – find an association in your focus , then look to see if there are links on the association site to either (or all) of these kind of pages – Chapters, Sections, Divisions, Board, Governance, or any of the like.  Also, quickly see if you can find a link (or x-ray for it later - “X-Ray” Search or Site Search: A VERY Basic Introduction and Why Use it in Internet Recruiting and Names Sourcing - http://www.thenamessourcer.com/2010/03/x-ray-search-or-site-search-very-basic.html) to a member directory, or even a member company directory. 

If you do not see any such links in the main navigation menu, go to the About Us page, or About, or any similar page.  Don’t give up.  You may have to sleuth here as most member-based groups provide pages that allow members to find each other, many of which are public pages.  Sometimes, yes, you’ll find an association or society that limits such information to members only, but it’s worth your time to check all available “doors” to see which ones are open.

When I come across the right pages, to save time I prefer to open each page in a separate tab.  Once you are satisfied that you’ve found and opened the main pages, begin to go through each.  You might see the names right there on each page.  Yet, sometimes, you may need to follow additional links to get to the actual names. 

You may even have to leave that site to go to separate sites, many times which happens when visiting geographic chapters or sections of the main parent group.  The point being, don’t give up and as you go through each page look for clues as to where the names are.  If you have to leave that page, don’t get discouraged as there may be more around the corner.

For example, I was scanning the chapter page of a major association.  The page itself merely served as a description page that provided a link to a URL for that geographic chapter.  Many would stop here, but don’t.  When I visited the other page, I noticed a very (almost hidden) link to what turned out to be an actual spreadsheet file of Professional Engineers in Chemical Engineering.  This list not only contained names, but location and, even more importantly, email addresses.  Since it was found in spreadsheet format, it was easily imported for a tailored networking email. 

So, my persistence paid off.  I sensed a clue and followed it.  Now I have (with the added names and contact information I found within the association), a tailored email list for a targeted networking campaign.  Ah, the joys of names sourcing!

Have fun!